Don't Miss Arles!, Arles, France

Arles has many interesting things to do and see! It is well worth a full day in your itinerary. We visited in March, when the temperatures were a little cool, and it was rather windy, but we still enjoyed beautiful sunshine. This is a city with rich history, the beautiful winding Rhône river, and proximity to the Mediterranean coast. There are Roman ruins, medieval churches, cobblestone streets, parks, and museums, too. Arles is very proud of their one-time resident artist, Vincent Van Gogh. Even though he only lived in Arles for 15 months, he produced over 300 paintings during that time. Arles has even created a map you can use to visit Van Gogh sites.

We arrived in Arles with a list of must-sees in hand and a desire to explore as well. The plan was to start “at the top”, so to speak, and work our way through the old part of Arles. As it turns out, old Arles is very walkable. So we parked our rental car in a free space on Avenue Victor Hugo and walked to the Arles Amphitheatre. We saw these ruins on the way as we walked through the Jardin d’été…

Originally built as a Roman arena, the amphitheatre also served as a fortress to a medieval village after adding three look-out towers. Since it sits on a high spot in town, it was a natural site for fortification. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).